The Book of Spoisms

The first Book of Spoisms was originally published on Page Q, a former sister website of WQAM, but considering CBS chose to burn all evidence of the site’s existence we decided to recreate it here while tacking on a healthy number of additions.

“This is going to be a process,” warned Erik Spoelstra back in November of 2010, coming on the heels of back-to-back losses for the first time in the Big Three Era.

The Miami Heat head coach would go on to repeat that word approximately 12,000 times over the last six-plus years, which included four finals appearances, two championships, and one devastating “coming home” letter.

It’s time to dive back into the precious Book of Spoisms and take a look back at Spo’s glorious word play over the years. The foundation for most Spoisms was laid during the first year of the LeBron Era.

Note Spoisms are listed in alphabetical order. This post will continue to be updated as more Spoisms are spewed into the basketball universe. Tweet me @JoshBaumgard for any recommendations.

Adapt or die

Spoelstra on changing the Heat’s offense for LeBron after losing to Mavs in The Finals: “It was either adapt or die.”

Hay’s in the barn

Don’t. Let. Go. Of. The. Rope.

NEVER SURRENDER.

Human condition

With the Celtics grasping a 3-2 lead in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals (from Yahoo Sports‘ Adrian Wojnarowski):

“Our focus is to fight any kind of noise from the outside, or any human condition,” Spoelstra said late on Tuesday night. The human condition is this: He’s begging his Heat stars to do something they didn’t do a year ago, when they lost a series lead, lost the momentum, lost the edge and lost their way going into a Game 6. Please, please, don’t collapse under the weight of our frailties again.”

LeBron expunged the human condition from his soul in Game 6 with a 45-point, 15-rebound masterpiece in Boston.

Identity

Spoelstra: "The identity of this game was toughness, particularly on the defensive end."

Intellectually stimulated

Land the plane

Spoelstra’s job while coaching the Big Three:

He recognizes Riley has handed him a roster other coaches envy.

“My job is to land the plane,” Spoelstra said.

He is aware that many assume it’s on autopilot but contends “it’s never as easy as it seems.” He insists he doesn’t care “about my reputation out there” — and that he ranks positive assessments from coaching peers second only to those from Heat higher-ups.

Maestro

Its dictionary definition states a maestro is “a great or distinguished figure in any sphere.”

Spoelstra has used this word in describing point guards Steve Nash and Rajon Rondo.

Natural order to competition

Spoelstra: "There is no logic. There is no natural order to competition." #spoisms